Hero Inside
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Auggie is stuggling after he admits he has feelings for Annie and she pushes him away. She realizes she made a mistake, but before she has a chance to tell him she loves him too, something terrible happens to him. Will she get the chance to fix things?
1. Chapter 1

The Hero Inside

Chapter One

Annie Walker woke up slowly one morning and noticed that the calendar on her bedroom wall had this day circled with a blue marker. It marked the anniversary of the day she officially began working at the CIA. It wasn't marked because she had plans to celebrate like some people might, but it was just a reminder of when she first began.

She couldn't believe that it had been a year now. As exciting as some of her missions were, they were also a lot more complicated and stressful than she had anticipated. Not only were her bosses tough and rarely acknowledged her good works, but she had also been leading a double life, hiding the truth from her sister, Danielle. That was what she hated most of all. She hated that lying became as natural to her as breathing.

Not that all this bothered her enough to quit. She loved the exhilaration and the unpredictable turns in her life. She never knew where she was going to be sent next and she made a number of interesting friends within the agency; Conrad, Jai, and then there was of course, Auggie.

Auggie was the sweetest and most optimistic guy you could ever meet. He is the head of tech ops and Annie feels that he knows more about the CIA than even their bosses, Arthur and Joan Campbell. At least he understood the intricacies of the massive bureaucracy in a way that no one else did. If anyone had a right to complain about life, it was him. He was blinded during a mission in Iraq and yet he has this positivism that is infectious to everyone he comes into contact with. He is witty and Annie was drawn to Auggie from the first day they met. He sees her for who she really is and trusts her implicitly. In turn, she trusts him more than anyone she has ever known. They are the best of friends, even kindred spirits.

Annie was interrupted from her thoughts as her alarm clock began to beep over and over again. She rarely slept long enough to have the need for the alarm, but she still set it just in case. Working at the CIA, the excuse of oversleeping was not acceptable. Annie hit the button which shut off the alarm and ran to go jump in the shower.

Working as an operative, she was busy all the time. This week however, had been fairly slow. She had the opportunity to go with Auggie to get a few drinks at least twice and managed to make it on time for Thursday night dinner with her sister and her family. Auggie had even treated her to a movie at the theater downtown.

The first time Auggie asked her to join him for a movie, Annie asked him how he could enjoy going to a movie, without being able to see it. He said that he went for a few reasons. First, was just so that he could at least hear it. Just because he couldn't see a movie, didn't mean he had to miss out on it completely. He hated hearing people talk about the latest movies and not knowing what it was they were talking about.

The second reason was because he liked to listen to the conversations that took place around him while the movie was playing. If it was a horror movie, people would talk about how either disgusted or scared they were. If it was a chick flick, instead of a conversation, he would hear people making out. He told Annie that she could learn a lot about the people who came to the movies.

As Annie finished getting ready for the day, she left her sister's guest house which she stayed in and went to visit with her sister for a few minutes, as well as grab a quick bite to eat before running off to work. Danielle and her family believed she worked at the Smithsonian. She asked Annie often about certain exhibits there or about certain events that took place in History. She liked History enough, but she didn't know a lot. It also wasn't always easy to come up with something to talk about on the spot. So, once again Auggie came to her rescue and would teach her History facts or stories daily just in case.

It never really donned on her until now, how much she depended on Auggie and she hoped he knew that she would always there for him whenever he needed her to be. She didn't think she would have made it in the CIA for this long if it hadn't have been for him. Whenever, she got ripped apart by either Joan or Arthur, he was always there to pick her up. He usually did so by cracking a blind joke. It didn't seem fair, but he always made her laugh that way.

When Annie walked into the kitchen, she had a smile on her face as she thought about Auggie's latest joke. Then, saw that her sister had made pancakes, bacon, and eggs for her family. She wasn't in the room, so Annie reached out to steal a few strips of bacon. As she did so, her sister suddenly appeared beside her, causing her to jump.

"Annie, you seem awfully perky today," Danielle stated. "In fact, you have been perky a lot lately. Have you been dating someone without telling me?"

"No, I haven't been dating anyone," Annie replied. "I was just thinking about a joke that a friend of mine told me at work last night. That's all."

Her sister looked at her questionably and asked, "Why haven't you introduced me to any of your friends? I don't think that you have introduced me to anyone since you've moved in here and yet I keep trying to get you to start dating again."

Annie responded, "No offense, Danielle, but you aren't very good at picking out men for me. I haven't found anything in common with any of them."

"I don't exactly see you trying to get to know them, you know," Danielle said. "I'm having a dinner party tomorrow night and I want you to come. I promise that I won't try to set you up with anyone, as long as you bring someone with you. You can bring this guy that you deny having feelings for. I'm not blind."

Annie just looked at her sister after she said that and turned to leave for work. She didn't know what she was going to do. She didn't want to be set up on another one of her dates, but she also didn't want to drag someone along with her. It wasn't really fair.

At first, she thought about maybe asking Conrad to come, but he was more like the kind of guy to meet out for drinks, rather than a guy to invite to a dinner party. Then, she thought about Jai, but she didn't feel like it would be right. Even though they were friends, it would just be too weird and awkward. Once again, Auggie came to her mind and she realized that if she was going to avoid getting set up again, Auggie was the one to ask. Besides, he knew all about Danielle setting her up all the time. Annie practically told him about everything.

She made it to work and put all thoughts of the party and dating again aside as she made her way from her car to inside the office. She met up with both Auggie and then Joan, who briefed her on her next assignment. She was asked to take pictures of an American by the name of Don Richert, who was suspected of selling some of his country's secrets.

According to a snitch in Richert's circle of friends, Richert had just flown into DC from New Mexico and was caught meeting up with some suspicious characters. The CIA wanted to know who they were and what this guy was up to. Annie believed that it was going to be another cut and dry case; a piece of cake. It was going to be another long day.


	2. Chapter 2

The Hero Inside

Chapter Two

Once she returned back to the office later that evening, Annie walked into Joan's office and explained the little bit of information she learned about the secret meetings that Don Richert was holding with the mysterious men. On the outside, the meetings looked like drug deals. Annie had taken pictures of Richert handing two men from Mexico envelopes, neither of whom looked familiar to her. Chances are they were men working for someone else; here with Richert to make sure that whatever their plans were ran smoothly.

After she finished talking with Joan, she walked into the Starbucks, ordered herself a coffee, and took a seat at one of the booths. She was tired and looked forward to going home to relax. But first, she planned on just sitting here to relax. She wasn't in the mood to have her sister jump on her to make sure she find someone to bring to dinner tomorrow night. It was then that Annie realized she hadn't had the chance to talk to Auggie yet about joining her.

Just as she was about to get up to go find him, a voice startled her from behind her saying, "You know, coffee isn't the best thing to have this close to bed. Coffee is supposed to be a morning drink to help wake you up, not wind you down."

Annie smiled as she watched Auggie take a seat across from her and said, "No, maybe not, but it certainly tastes good. I was just about to get up to look for you. How do you always know where to find me, anyway?"

"It's just one of my special gifts," he replied. "My other senses have learned to adapt ever since my lack of sight. You have a certain smell and the way you walk in those high heel shoes you wear."

"I hope it's a good smell coming from me," Annie joked.

"Definitely a good smell," Auggie said with a smile. "I take it was a long day today and that you are anxious to relax. How about going to get a drink? I'll buy."

Annie responded, "I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check. I promised my sister that I would watch her girls tonight. She and her husband have some sort of parent teacher conference at their school."

Auggie nodded and replied, "Not a problem; another time then. I should probably get home too. It will give me a chance to catch up on some sleep. This job doesn't always make it easy."

Annie looked at him and asked, "Do you have nightmares? I mean, about the day you lost your sight?"

"Sometimes I do," Auggie said as he lowered his head down and placed his chin on his chest. "I may be blind on the outside, but my dreams are very vivid and clear in my head. I don't always dream about Iraq. It's this job in general. It can be pretty stressful, as you know, but it's no big deal."

"I'm sorry, Auggie," she said as she saw that he was feeling uncomfortable. "I mean, I didn't mean to pry. How about a change of subject? I was wondering if you would be willing to do me a huge favor."

He put his head back up as if he were looking at her and asked, "What can I do for you?"

She responded, "You don't have to, but my sister has been bothering me about not knowing any of my friends. She wants me to bring someone with me to a dinner party she is throwing tomorrow night. It's not a date or anything. Just a get together and I don't want her to think that I have no friends at all."

"I will be happy to go," he replied. "Besides, I'd like to meet your sister. She sounds like she is very special to you, despite her constantly nagging you to start dating again."

"Thank you," Annie said. "I will owe you big time for this and I promise that it won't be too boring."

He put his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box as he said, "I'm sure that it won't be. By the way, I have something for you. It is just something to congratulate you on working here at the CIA for a year. Congratulations!"

"Auggie, how did you remember," she asked? "I even forgot until now. What is this?"

"It is just the pair of earrings that you were admiring a few weeks ago when the two of us went to go talk to the jeweler for one of your missions," he answered. "Do you remember?"

Annie looked at him in shock and said, "Of course I remember. Auggie, how did you know?"

He replied, "Right before the manger of the shop came up to see us, you quietly said that something was beautiful as you were looking at the jewelry. I know that you meant to say it to yourself, but I couldn't help but overhear you. You know; super hearing. As you walked away to talk to the manager, I walked over to the jeweler behind the counter and asked her what it was you were admiring. I went back the day after to get it. I hope that they are the right ones."

"They are, oh Auggie," she responded as she looked at him in admiration. "Thank you so much."

Auggie stood up and said, "You're welcome. Well, I should probably go see if I can't find someone to bum a ride home from. You may want to get going before Joan decides to have you do something else for her."

"You're right, it's almost seven-thirty," Annie replied. My sister's meeting is at eight-thirty. I will see you in the morning. Get some sleep tonight, Auggie."

"Thanks Annie," he responded.

Auggie walked in the opposite direction from her, as she headed to her car. After she got in, she drove away from work and prepared herself for kids playing and laughing. It's a hard to go from being in a stressful environment at work, to being an aunt to two kids. However, part of her looked forward to feeling like she had somewhat of a normal life.

She walked into her sister's home about thirty-five minutes later to the sound of two girls in the kitchen laughing and making cookies. Her sister yelled down at them from upstairs asking them where they had put her black dress shoes the last time they played dress-up. She came running downstairs a few minutes later and gave her girls each a hug, as did her husband.

Danielle ran up to Annie, gave her a hug, and said, "Thank you so much for looking after our girls, Annie. I appreciate it so much. Oh by the way, did you invite someone for dinner tomorrow night?"

As Annie was about to respond, Danielle's husband interrupted them and said, "I hate to rush you more, but we have to go right now or we will be late."

The woman laughed and Danielle added, "We will talk later. I love you. Bye!"

After her sister left, Annie walked into the kitchen and the girls came running into her arms. They begged her to join them in baking cookies. They told her that their mom said they could bring cookies to school with them for some kind of party they were having. Annie helped them to finish and around nine o'clock she put them to bed. She read them a story and once they were asleep, she left the room and took a seat on the couch in the living room. She pulled a book out from her purse and began to read until her sister came home.


	3. Chapter 3

The Hero Inside

Chapter Three

By the time Annie's sister and her husband finally came home from their meeting, it was after eleven-thirty. When Annie asked her what took them so long, she said that they decided to go out to dinner afterwards because they haven't had the opportunity to do so in a very long time.

Annie said goodnight to her sister before she had a chance to start up a conversation with her. She was tired and had to wake up early for work. Most likely, Joan was going to ask her to take more pictures or tail Richert some more. As she expected, this assignment was boring and made the day last much longer. She couldn't wait for the assignment to end. Little did she realize how difficult it was going to get.

The next day, Joan sent Annie right out to tail Richert as she predicted. She didn't even get the chance to see Auggie beforehand. It was then that she realized today was actually his day off. Auggie rarely took time off and even when he wasn't scheduled to work, he would end up coming in anyway. She discovered that today was one of those days, like she knew he would. She talked to him on the phone a few times when asking for specific information. Annie felt that working probably made him feel more useful, even though he didn't have anything to prove to anyone, except to maybe himself.

Even though Auggie constantly joked about being blind, Annie could tell that it bothered him deep down. When they first met, Auggie said that it helps to keep a healthy sense of humor. There were some advantages to this job, but there were also a lot of disadvantages too, that seemed to overwhelm the positives. He was right about the sense of humor. It really did help make the day better when he cracked a joke about something, especially something about either Joan or her husband, Arthur.

The surveillance of Don Richert was once again slow going and Annie couldn't help but feel that the guy knew he was being tailed by some kind of authority. All that he did was go out for breakfast or lunch with some of his regular business associates. Then, he went to the gym for several hours, after which he went swimming to cool down. Finally, he went home and stayed inside the rest of the day. He made several business calls, but nothing was illegal, as far as she could tell.

Once again, she made it back to the office later than she would have liked, but she had just enough time to go over the details of her day with Joan, before she would have to leave in order to get home in time for her sister's dinner.

After she walked out of Joan's office, she went to go change into the dress which she brought from home and then found that Auggie was sitting at her desk, dressed in a nice suit. She was surprised to see that he dressed up for dinner. She hoped that she didn't make him feel like he was obligated to do so. He was doing this as a favor to her. She wanted him to be as comfortable as possible.

As she walked over to him, other people from the office started to whistle and Auggie said, "From the sound of the whistles from the peanut gallery, I'd say that you look pretty hot. I just wish I could see for myself. Are you ready to go?"

She replied, "Yeah, I am. Danielle will kill me if we're late. You certainly know how to clean up as well. You look great!"

"Thank you," Auggie responded. "I'm looking forward to tonight."

"You don't have to say that," Annie explained. "It isn't a requirement in order to be my friend. My sister is going to be all over you, asking you questions such as, are you dating anyone, or how is work, which reminds me; since you're always telling me facts about History, I figured that our cover story could be that we are friends from the Smithsonian."

Auggie nodded his head and said, "That'll work just fine. I think I can pull off being a curator. Don't worry so much about tonight, Annie. Just relax and have fun. You won't have to worry about me embarrassing you and you won't have to worry about her setting you up on a date either. It's just dinner with a group of friends. I'll be right there beside you."

Annie smiled at him and replied, "I don't know what I would do without you, Auggie. You're a life saver."

"I try," he agreed.

When they arrived at her sister's home, it was about eight o'clock and there were already several people inside. Annie got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side to help Auggie out and guide him inside. As they came in, Danielle and her husband were in the living room talking to one of his business partners, while her daughters were running around with some of the other children who came with their parents.

As soon as Danielle spotted her sister, she excused herself from the conversation they were in the middle of and walked over to Annie to introduce herself to her guest saying, "Annie, thank God, you both showed up. That man is so boring. Hi, I'm Danielle. It is so good to finally meet a friend of Annie's. She doesn't tell me much about her job or about who her friends are these days."

Auggie raised his right hand in attempt to shake hers, but missed as he replied, "My name is Auggie Anderson. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Annie tells me nothing but good things about you and your family."

Danielle noticed that he was blind as he stared straight ahead and reached out to shake her hand, so she nervously asked, "So, do you work with Annie at the Smithsonian? She's been pretty busy there, so I am assuming that that is where you two know each other from. Am I right?"

"Yes, I'm a curator there," Auggie responded. "Whenever I have a break, I'll go talk with Annie in her office. She's a great girl."

"That she is," Danielle replied. "Auggie, feel free to have whatever you'd like and let me know if you need anything. I'm afraid I have to go talk to some of our other guests. I will talk to you later. Annie, can I see you for a minute?"

Annie excused herself from Auggie's side and walked out of earshot as Danielle said, "Auggie seems like a great guy. Was he born blind?"

Annie looked over at Auggie who was just waiting for her to come back and answered, "No, he was in some kind of an accident a few years ago. He doesn't really talk about it. Look Danielle, he will joke about it if you say something to him because that is who he is, but deep down he's a sensitive guy. Please don't say anything to him. Just treat him like you would anyone else; bye."

Before Danielle went back to join her husband, she observed her sister as she walked back over to her friend and watched as they laughed about something that he had said. Danielle could tell by the way Annie looked up at Auggie and interacted with him, that they were more than just good friends. She only hoped that Annie was brave enough to let someone else in her life again.


	4. Chapter 4

The Hero Inside

Chapter Four

Danielle's party was running smoothly. She was tired of having to talk with several of her husband's work associates, but otherwise she was having a good time. She was grateful that for the first time she had bought enough food and drink for the many guests who had come tonight. She usually ran out of food because she would underestimate the number of guests who actually showed up.

Annie and Auggie spent the whole night together. They would periodically talk to other guests, but for the most part they spent time alone talking about things such as work, History, and other somewhat useless trivia.

Annie knew that she would be bored and miserable had she come to her sister's party alone tonight. She looked over at Auggie who was in the middle of a conversation with Danielle's husband and smiled. He and Auggie were talking about politics; a subject which Danielle refused to talk about with him because of how heated he became when he disagreed with something that was said.

Annie walked over to them and was about to say something to break up the conversation, until suddenly her nieces came running over to her shouting, "Annie! Annie!"

One of them said, "Please don't let Mommy put us to bed. We don't want to go to bed. We aren't tired."

The other girl added, "Please, Annie. Help us. Explain to Mom why she can't put us to bed. We are having so much fun."

"Girls, you promised that you would cooperate with me by going to bed, if I let you come to the party tonight," Danielle said as she came running into the room where the girls were clinging to Annie.

"But, Mom," one of the girls cried.

"No buts," Danielle interrupted them before they could say more. "I want the two of you to go up to bed right now. If you don't, there will be no ice cream tomorrow when we go shopping."

The girls sighed as the youngest one looked up at Auggie and asked him, "How did you go blind?"

Annie cut in saying, "Hey! That is none of your business."

"No, it's ok; seriously," Auggie replied. "I was in a car accident a few years ago. It was pretty scary."

"Alright, time for bed," Annie said. "Goodnight girls, I love you. Danielle, I'll see you later. Auggie and I are leaving now. I'll see you tomorrow."

Danielle nodded her head as she, her husband, and the girls walked out of the room, leaving Annie and Auggie alone. Annie guided Auggie outside and helped him to get into her car.

As they drove off to bring Auggie home, Annie said, "I am sorry about my niece, earlier. I didn't think that they would have taken time out from playing with the other kids to interrupt us."

Auggie responded, "It's not a problem, Annie honestly. If it bothered me every time someone asked how I lost my sight, then I would have left the CIA and became a hermit. Anyway, thank you for bringing me tonight. I had a lot of fun, even during the conversation I had with your sister's husband. It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to argue over something as pointless as politics."

"It should be me thanking you, Auggie," he replied. "You saved me from another night of my sister drilling me on why I don't date. I don't know if I can handle it much longer."

"You know, there is an easy solution to your problem," he said. "I mean, it may not be easy, but you really should start dating someone again. What about Conrad? Didn't he ask you to go out with him a few times? I know he likes you. I don't have to have eyes to see that."

Annie looked over at Auggie and asked, "You mean Conrad Sheehan from work? Please, he's nice and he's handsome, but he is a little too self-centered for me. It's like you said when we first met. He works for Arthur Campbell and he acts like it. Anyway, I don't want to date anyone right now. I'm not ready to."

As they pulled up in front of Auggie's apartment, Auggie looked over toward Annie and replied slowly, "You have every right to be happy again, Annie. You should not be so afraid to move on with your life and give someone else a chance to love you."

Annie looked into Auggie's eyes and for the first time saw how beautiful they were. As the silence grew, Annie and Auggie leaned in closer to each other. Without thinking, Annie leaned up and kissed Auggie passionately on his lips. Suddenly, she pushed him away and got out of her car.

"This is still about Ben, isn't it," Auggie asked as she came around and opened his door for him? "What happened between you and him was years ago. If he loved you at all, then he would want you to be happy now, don't you think so?"

"I want to give Ben the chance to explain why he left," Annie said. "What we had in three months isn't something I can just forget about."

"I'm not asking you to forget about anything," he responded as she helped him out of the car. "I understand what it is like to be in love and to lose it. Believe me, I know how you feel."

Annie became defensive and replied, "How would you know how I feel, huh? Did someone make you feel like you were the most important person in the world and then rip your heart out as they just disappeared with no explanation why? Why are you even questioning me about my love life? You aren't dating anyone either. Just because you're blind, doesn't give you a right to lecture me about love."

Auggie lowered his head and turned to walk into his apartment. He used his walking stick to guide him. Annie knew that she had just hurt her best friend very badly for no reason. She regretted what she said as soon as the words slipped out of her mouth. However, before she had a chance to apologize to him, he stopped walking and slowly turned around to face her, with tears in his eyes.

"You're right that I am not dating anyone right now," Auggie said slowly. "But that doesn't mean I haven't tried. I was in love with someone once. She was beautiful and amazing, and we were engaged to be married. Then, I was sent on a mission to Iraq. I came home blind and a mess. After a few days, she couldn't accept me anymore and she left. I was devastated, but in time I moved on and I have managed to fall in love with someone else who accepts me for who I am. You've just got to move on Annie, or you are going to end up miserable and alone the rest of your life. Goodnight."

Auggie turned around again and disappeared into his home. Annie couldn't believe she said those things and just stood there as he walked away. What had come over her, she thought. How could she hurt the man who has been there for her every day since they met?

Part of her wanted to go knock on the door and beg him to forgive her, but she knew that he needed some time and space. She needed it too. She needed to figure out what he meant. When Auggie told her he had fallen in love again with someone who accepted him, did he mean that he was in love with her? The kiss they shared in her car definitely made it seem to be so.

Annie got back in her car and drove toward home. Once she got there, she planned on going straight to the guest house, but Danielle came outside and walked up to her. She could tell that Annie had been crying as she turned around to face her.

"Annie, what is it," Danielle asked. "What's wrong? You and Auggie were having a great time tonight."

"I said some terrible things to him and I hurt him really bad," Annie replied. "I didn't mean to say them, but everything came out so fast."

Danielle said, "Let me guess, Ben came up, didn't he? You are falling in love again, Annie. However, you're afraid to let go of Ben because you are afraid to get hurt again. Don't let Auggie go. After the way the two of you looked tonight, I can tell that he would never do anything to hurt you. He loves you and something tells me that whatever you said to hurt him, he will forgive you."

Annie wrapped her arms around her sister to give her a hug. She thanked her and told her goodnight. Then she walked inside her apartment and took out the scrap book which she made all about Ben. She looked at the shell bracelet and his picture once more and closed the book.

Annie walked over to the waste basket, dropped the book into it, and said, "Auggie was right. I need to let you go so that I can move on with my life. I won't hurt him, like you hurt me."


	5. Chapter 5

The Hero Inside

Chapter Five

Auggie entered his home and went to his bedroom right away. He folded his walking stick up and placed it on his dresser as he always did, pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt to change into, and then walked into the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed.

He kept everything in the same place in order to make sure that he wouldn't lose track of anything or trip over any furniture. It took a long time for him to get use to not being able to see; any kind of change was hard. The one good thing about being blind was that he didn't have to have lights on, unless he actually had company over. It saved him money on his electricity bill every month.

Once Auggie had finished in the bathroom, he walked over to his stove and turned one of the dials to make himself a cup of tea. He had a tea kettle in place already. Every morning before work he would wash out the kettle, fill it back up with water, and place it back on top of the right, front burner.

While he waited for the water to boil, he started toward his computer to turn it on, but as he did so, he heard a noise behind him. As he stopped walking in order to listen, he heard nothing. However, Auggie knew the sound to be the click of a gun being prepared to fire.

He called out asking, "Who's there?"

Instead of someone answering him, he was suddenly hit over the head and knocked unconscious. As he fell to the floor, the lights were turned on and two men walked over to a third who stood over Auggie with a gun in his hand.

One of them said, "I guess that explains why he's been walking around in the dark; he's blind."

Another asked, "How on earth does a blind guy get a hot woman like the one who is spying on us and our boss? Why does Richert even want us to take him in the first place?"

"Because he wants to use him in order to get the girl to talk," the third man responded. "Kidnapping her would be easy, but since she has been spying on us, she must be working with some government agency like the FBI, CIA, or something else and they are all trained not to talk under interrogation. Richert wants to use him to get her to do so. Then, we will kill them both."

The three men carried Auggie out to their car and put him in the trunk. Then, they drove off, leaving the lights in his apartment on, as well as the stove. They headed to the place where Richert had told them to go; a cabin deep in the woods, which was hours away from where the CIA headquarters were.

Meanwhile…

It was just after one-thirty in the morning and Annie was having a hard time sleeping. She couldn't get the harsh words she spoke to Auggie out of her mind or the sad look on his face. After another hour, Annie finally decided to get up and get dressed. She was going to go back to Auggie's to apologize to him as she should have done before. Even though it was very early, she had a feeling that Auggie would also be awake.

Once she arrived at his apartment, the first thing that Annie noticed was that the lights were on. For a minute, she didn't think anything of it, until she remembered that Auggie never used the lights. He didn't need them unless he had company over and that didn't happen often. She knew that Auggie always went out with friends because he didn't want to risk anything in his apartment being changed on him. He had told her once that it took a long time for him to get used to getting around without running into things.

Annie walked up to his door and rang the bell. After a few minutes, he still didn't answer. Annie was about to knock, until she could hear a faint whistling sound coming from inside. She tried to open the door using the knob, but the door was locked. However, her instinct told her that something was very wrong.

Annie kicked in the door and saw that there was smoke coming from his kitchen. Annie ran in and found that one of the burners on his stove had been left on and the smoke was coming from the now empty tea kettle. She quickly pulled it off, placed it in the sink, turned on the faucet to run water over it, and turned the burner off.

She turned around and called out, "Auggie, are you here? Are you all right? Auggie, it's me, Annie! Can you hear me?"

When there was no response and after she walked throughout the house, Annie knew that Auggie was not here. She also knew that Auggie would not have gone out for a walk while leaving the stove on. As she pulled out her phone to call Joan, she looked down and noticed that there was red liquid on the floor of his kitchen. As she bent down to take a closer look, she saw that it was definitely blood. Worry built up in her chest as she knew without a doubt that the blood belonged to Auggie.

Annie knew that Auggie had good instincts, but without sight, it would have been impossible to defend himself against god knows how many attackers were here. Annie snapped out of her thoughts and quickly dialed Joan's number.

Joan answered after three rings and Annie spoke first saying, "Joan, I need you and anyone else you can bring to come over to Auggie's. I'll explain everything when you get here, just please hurry. He's in trouble."

After Joan hung up, Annie began to walk throughout the house to see if there was anything that may give her some idea who it was that had kidnapped him. Annie's thoughts brought her back to her last words to him and she realized that if they didn't find him in time, she would never get the chance to tell him she was sorry and most importantly, that she loved him too.


	6. Chapter 6

The Hero Inside

Chapter Six

Joan and several other CIA operatives, including Jai Wilcox, arrived at Auggie's apartment within twenty minutes. They drove up quietly, so that they wouldn't draw attention to themselves. Joan was the first to walk in and as she did, she and Jai walked over to where Annie stood waiting to explain what was going on. Everyone else began to look over Auggie's apartment, which was now a crime scene.

"Annie, I need to know whatever you know," Joan said. "How did you end up here at Auggie's apartment? Please do not tell me that you have been continuing to have him join you on some of your assignments after I specifically told you both not to."

"No, Joan, I promise he hasn't been," Annie replied. "As a friend, Auggie offered to join me for a party that my sister threw at our house earlier tonight. She's been constantly setting me up on dates and Auggie was trying to help me out. After the party, I drove him home and we somehow ended up in a fight. He went inside and I went home. However, I couldn't sleep because I couldn't leave things that way. I came back to apologize to him, but I found the lights on, as well as the burner with a kettle on it and some blood on the kitchen floor. Auggie wasn't here. My guess is that the blood belongs to Auggie. Oh, and it was me who kicked in the door. It was locked when I arrived. I'm not sure how the kidnappers got in."

Joan watched Annie as she spoke and when she finished, she asked, "What was it that you and Auggie got into a fight about?"

Annie sternly responded, "Our argument had nothing to do with what happened to him. It was just between us. Who would want to hurt him?"

"Has Auggie been doing any field work that you know of at all, Annie," Jai asked? "He's been having trouble letting go since his accident."

"I don't know," Annie replied. "But you would have a hard time letting go of everything that mattered to you if you were to go blind as well, don't you think so, Jai?"

"Annie," Joan interrupted. "Jai was only asking a question. Let's get back to the issue at hand. We need to find him. I'd hate to lose the best tech ops operative we've had in a long time."

Annie looked at them both and replied as she walked away, "Auggie is more than just a tech ops operative. I would have thought that you of all people should know that, Joan. He's been loyal to you for years."

Joan and Jai just watched as Annie walked off to observe the others in Auggie's apartment, when Joan said, "Annie, I want you off this search. You are too close to this and I need everyone to keep a clear head. We will handle things from here. I want you to continue on with your own assignment. Everyone, make sure that you check over everything. Even the smallest clue may be of importance. He's one of our own and I want him found yesterday."

Joan and Jai both left the apartment and headed back to CIA headquarters where she would run things as always. Annie was angry that Joan ordered her to stay away from finding out who had taken Auggie, but she ended up staying behind until the last tech left around six o'clock that morning. She didn't want to follow her orders, but knew that she needed to. Not doing so would get her fired. As she left, she headed back to her place to change her clothes and grab a bite to eat. It was going to be a long day.

It was then that she decided that she needed to tell her sister that she had been asked to go on another business trip by her boss at the Smithsonian. Annie knew that she looked terrible and she couldn't handle her sister constantly asking her questions about whether or not she had resolved her problems with Auggie, until he was back safe and sound.

As she was packing, Annie saw the scrap book filled with things between her and Ben still in her trash can. When she finished packing her bags, she put her bags in the trunk of her car, walked out into her back yard, dug up a big enough hole in the ground for the book, and buried it. It was what she did with everything that she let go of so that she wouldn't have a reminder of what she lost. It was her way of permanently saying goodbye.

As she was doing so, Danielle came walking up to her and said, "You are finally ready to let someone else in. Auggie must be someone very special. I am so happy for you, Annie."

Annie replied sadly, "Yeah, he is."

As Danielle knelt down and took a good look at her sister's face, she asked, "What's wrong? You look terrible. I assumed that you went back to his place last night to talk to him when you left here after one o'clock. I saw you leave."

"Actually, I forgot something at the office yesterday that was pretty important," Annie responded. "When I got there, I found a letter from my boss that I was going to be leaving today to check out a new artifact that might be coming to the museum from Athens. I need to go to authenticate it. I'll be gone for a few days."

"All right," Danielle said. "Just promise me that you are going to make up with Auggie when you get back. If he can get you to let go of Ben, then he is worth fighting for."

"You have no idea," Annie replied. "Don't worry about me. I will call you later. Tell the girls I love them."

When Annie left, she drove off toward Don Richert's home and parked across the street at the park. She sat down on a bench that gave her a good view of his driveway, so that she would know if he left. This assignment was tedious because they did not have enough evidence that said for sure if he was guilty, but the little information they did have from the snitch inside Richert's circle of friends was enough for the CIA to be suspicious.

After sitting there for over an hour, someone came up from behind her and sat down on the seat next to her. From the photos she had taken, she realized it was Richert's right hand man. Annie tensed, but didn't get up. She wasn't sure if Richert was on to her, or if this guy being here was just a coincidence.

"This park sure is beautiful, isn't it," he asked? "You seem to think so since you come to sit on this bench every morning. Is it the park you're observing, or is it me and my friend?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Annie replied. "I come here every morning to watch the sunrise. It is beautiful."

He responded, "You see, I don't believe you. I have it on good authority that you are here to watch us to see if we are doing something illegal. I take it that you haven't found anything yet, am I right?"

Annie stood up and said, "Look, I don't know who you or your boss are, and I certainly don't know of anything illegal, but I assure you that I am just here to watch the sunrise. Now that I have, I'm leaving. Goodbye."

"Look, you can stop with the charade," he said bluntly. "We know that you work for some government agency, but we just don't know which one. The snitch in our circle who gave you your information about us, told us everything, except who you work for. He died before he had the chance. We've been observing you ever since. Now, I suggest you come with me now. My boss wants to talk with you."

"I don't plan on going anywhere with you, thanks," Annie responded.

The guy pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Annie as he replied, "If you want to see your boyfriend again, you should come with me and leave your cell phone behind."

When Annie looked closely at the object in her hand, she realized it was Auggie's watch that he wore. It had a voice box that told him the time. The CIA had it specially made for him. Annie should have known that it was Richert who had taken Auggie, but she didn't know until now that her cover had been blown. She knew that something seemed off as she observed them because they weren't doing anything suspicious. If only she trusted her instincts. If she did, Auggie would be safe.

Annie spoke up saying, "Bring me to him, now!"


	7. Chapter 7

The Hero Inside

Chapter Seven

Auggie awoke in a sitting position on the ground with his hands tied to a wooden beam behind him and a serious headache, no doubt from being knocked over the head from what he assumed was the butt of a gun. The beam was obviously from inside a room in a house, not only because of the way it felt, but also because of the way it smelled. There was no sound coming from within the room, except for any movement he made. The ground beneath him felt hard, but as he moved his feet across it, he knew that it was dirt. Auggie realized he was probably in a cellar somewhere.

He tried to loosen the ropes tying his hands, but the knots were too tight. Auggie put his head up against the beam and tried to think of who would want to kidnap him and why. He was just a tech ops operative, and no one knew that except for those who worked within the CIA. Besides, who would believe that a blind man worked for the CIA? It sounded more like a joke, than reality. That was why he brought it up when he first met Annie, as a way to ease her into things.

As Auggie tried to figure things out, he suddenly heard a door open from somewhere nearby, the clicking of a light switch, and footsteps coming toward him. It sounded like there were at least two other people in the room with him now as they came up in front of him. One of them was heavy set and the other was a woman.

When no one spoke right away, Auggie asked, "Who are you and what do you want with me? If it is money you two are after, then you're out of luck; I'm broke. By the way Lady, whatever the big guy is paying you, I hope you think this is worth it."

The heavy set one asked, "How did you know that I am big and that my partner's a woman; you're blind?"

"People are always surprised that a blind guy can figure things out without being able to see," Auggie replied. "You're partner wears perfume pretty heavily and it stinks. Your footsteps are heavy on the floor as you walk. That's how I knew that you are fat, or maybe just a bit over weight. Now, are you going to answer my question? What do you want with me?"

"You'll find out soon enough," the woman answered. "In the meantime, I suggest you get comfortable. You'll be down here awhile. We are waiting for our boss to get here with a surprise."

After she finished speaking, the kidnappers left the room, shut off the lights, and went back upstairs to wherever it was he was at. He once again laid his head back up against the beam and closed his eyes. His head was throbbing. Auggie knew that Joan and the others at the CIA would do whatever they could to find him.

His last thoughts before he passed out again, were of the argument he had with Annie. He was stupid for saying the things he said to her. He didn't mean to hurt her, he just wanted her to know that he loved her. He realized that last night was the wrong time and that he should have waited until he knew she was over Ben. He only hoped that he would get the chance to apologize.

Meanwhile…

Richert's right hand walked Annie into the house she had been watching for the past few days and into the entryway outside of his boss' study. He knocked on the door and opened it as soon as he heard Richert tell them to enter. As they did, Annie saw Don Richert sitting behind a desk with a cigar in his mouth. He looked upset, but also smug. Annie assumed that was because he had leverage over her to get her to talk.

Richert was the first to speak saying, "Hello, Miss. Did my friend introduce himself to you? His name is Evan Greer. He and I have been friends for seventeen years, but something tells me that you already know that. So, you know who we are. What about you?"

She answered, "My name is Annie Walker. Where is my friend?"

"Is that all he is to you," Richert responded? "From the kiss the two of you shared in your car outside his home last night, makes me think that you to are something more than that. Although, that fight the two of you had afterward might have implied that you are no longer together. Am I right?"

"Why have you been spying on us," Annie asked. "As I told your pal here, I was just watching the sunrise this morning. I come to the park every morning to do so. That's all."

Richert and Greer laughed as Richert replied, "Then, how do you explain getting copies of my phone records and spying on me wherever I go? An old friend told me that he snitched on us to the cops, but something tells me that you are more than just a simple cop. The snitch died before he could tell me who you really were though."

Annie said, "So your buddy Greer told me. Just because your dead friend told you I was spying on you, does that mean it was the truth? What if he was lying? He was after all, ratting you out to someone."

"You are good, Miss Walker," Richert answered. "However, I do believe my dead friend, as you called him. Who do you work for? And let me remind you that if you lie to me again, I will have my men kill your boyfriend. I have a feeling that you know I will do it."

"I'll tell you once I see that he is all right," Annie responded. "If he is hurt, you can forget about it. I want to see him, now!"

"Very well, Miss. Walker," Richert replied. "Evan, please take our guest out to see her friend. Don't forget to blind fold her. I don't want her to know where she is going. Prepare yourself for a long trip, Annie. By the way, what is it that you see in the blind man? He can't do anything without help."

Annie said, "He's always been there for me when I needed him. It's my turn to repay that favor. He's more of a man than you or right hand here could ever hope to be."

Evan walked Annie out to his car and told her to get into the backseat. Another one of Richert's thugs joined them and sat beside her. Greer handed the guy a blindfold and told him to wrap it around her eyes. Then, they headed off toward the cabin where Auggie was being held.


	8. Chapter 8

The Hero Inside

Chapter Eight

Inside the CIA Headquarters…

Joan, Jai, and all of the agents on Joan's team were busy scrambling around, trying to find any clue to Auggie's disappearance from the evidence found in his apartment. They had very little to go on. The forensic specialists verified that the blood found on his kitchen floor, did indeed belong to Auggie, as they expected.

"Please tell me there is something here, people," Joan shouted! "It's been over ten hours since he's been taken and so far we have absolutely nothing. I want to know if he was taken because someone learned he works for the CIA or if this is something personal. For all we know, it could have just been a robbery gone wrong and Auggie walked in on them. I want to know."

"I've got something for you, Ma'am," one of the operatives replied. "I just got the DNA results off of the cigarettes found outside Auggie's apartment back from forensics. They belong to a Jason Highmore."

Both Joan and Jai looked at each other as soon as they heard the name and Jai asked, "Isn't that the name of our snitch who gave us the Intel on Don Richert and Evan Greer?"

Joan took the folder with the lab results, looked at the file carefully and answered, "Yah, it is. Dang it, Annie! I warned them to not to have Auggie help out in the field. It looks like Highmore told his boss everything, probably because they found him out. He tells them about Annie in order to save his hide and Richert has her followed. Auggie went with Annie last night to her party. They see them together, follow them back to his apartment, chances are to use him to lure her out and find out who she's working for. Call Annie and tell her that her mission has been compromised and to come back to the office right now."

Jai made the call, but there was no answer on Annie's cell. When he told Joan, she ordered he team to put a trace on her phone and find out exactly where she was. The signal showed that she was in the park outside of Richert's home. However, when a team arrived there, all they found was the phone. There was no sign of Annie.

Joan ordered the team to enter Richert's home, but found that no one was home and there was no sign that Annie had ever been there. Joan ordered two different teams to search the guy's home, not only for evidence of Annie or Auggie, but also that proved he was selling country secrets to people in Russia as Highmore had lead them to believe.

At the cabin in the woods…

Evan Greer and Richert's other guy led Annie inside the cabin as soon as they exited their car. They kept Annie blindfolded as they did so and led her down to the cellar in which Auggie was being held. When they entered the tiny room, Greer pulled off the blindfold and left, leaving Annie alone in the dark.

Annie fought to adjust her eyes to the dark, when suddenly she heard a voice call out, "Look fellas, whatever it is that you want from me, you are not going to get it. I told you that I don't have a penny to my name."

Annie ran over to where she heard Auggie's voice and knelt down next to him as she replied, "Auggie, thank God! Are you all right?"

"Annie," he asked? "I'm fine, but what are you doing here? I heard two other thugs with you. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine too," she responded. "I'm so sorry about them kidnapping you. It's Don Richert and his guys that I've been watching for the last few days. They discovered that Jason Highmore was giving us information about them and they killed him for it. However, he told them about me to try to save himself, except that I work for the CIA. He died before he could give them everything. They've been following me too. That's how they knew about you. They were watching us at the party last night and outside your apartment. They want to use you to get me to tell them everything. Hang on, I'm going to untie you now."

Once Auggie was free, he allowed Annie to help him stand and said, "I guess that explains why someone would kidnap a lonely blind guy. That also explains what they meant about bringing a surprise."

As soon as Auggie was standing, Annie wrapped her arms around him and was about to say something, when the door to the cellar opened once and again and the light was turned on. In the doorway stood Richert, Greer, and three other people; one of them being a woman.

Annie stood in front of Auggie as Greer and the fat guy moved toward them and Richert said, "Will the two of you join us upstairs please. We would like to have a talk. I kept my end of the bargain, Miss. Walker; I brought you to your boyfriend. Now it is time for you to keep up your end."

Once they were upstairs and entered another room of the cabin, Annie and Auggie were led toward two chairs in the center of the room and tied down to them. Their arms were tied behind their backs and as soon as the bad guys turned their backs to them, Annie began to work on loosening the knots.

"It looks like the big guy was a boy scout," Auggie said. "These knots are really tight. Nice job!"

"The blind man is much smarter than I would have thought he was," the fat guy replied.

"What makes you think a blind man can't be smart," Auggie asked. "I told you before that I figure things out differently than you do. My other four senses are much stronger. I know that I am certainly smarter than you and the rest of your pals here."

The fat guy walked over to Auggie and slapped him hard across the face. Richert and Greer just laughed as they exited the cabin and drove off, leaving the big guy and the woman behind once again to keep an eye on them. Annie and Auggie were left alone to talk quietly to themselves.

Annie looked over at Auggie and whispered, "Auggie, are you all right?"

He replied just as quietly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, Annie. You can't tell them anything. Who knows how much Jason Highmore told them, but you can't talk. Lie to them like you would to anyone else. It doesn't matter what happens to me."

"It matters to me," she responded. "Don't worry. We are both going to get out of here. I've almost got the knots loose. When I do, we can find a way to knock them out and make a run for it."

"Even, if you can get loose and you do manage to knock them out to escape, you are going to have to go without me," he answered.

Annie looked at him and said, "No way! I'm not going to just leave you behind. We are going to escape together."

Auggie shook his head and replied, "Who knows when Richert and Greer will be back and you will need a good head start if you hope to get out of this. I'm blind, Annie and you know that you won't get away while dragging me along with you. I'll only slow you down."

"I don't care," she responded. "We are both getting out of here. Just think of it as the mission that you have been dying to go on; forgive the pun. You've been wanting to prove to Joan that you can do more than just office work. Here is your chance."

Auggie just nodded and waited. He knew that Annie wasn't going to listen to him no matter what he said. She was all about accomplishing the impossible. As much as she hated being shot at and lying to her family, she couldn't help but love the thrill and risk this job gave her. And even if she didn't love him like he loved her, he knew that they were at least friends and she wouldn't let anything happen to him as long as she could help it.


	9. Chapter 9

The Hero Inside

Chapter Nine

Richert and Greer were getting ready to question the woman who worked for some agency, but Richert suddenly received a message on his phone telling him that they needed to attend to a problem in the town they were staying in. Before they drove away from the cabin, Richert ordered the man and woman who stayed behind to watch over their captives to make sure that they didn't touch them until they returned.

Greer drove himself and his boss to the sheriff's office in town and when they entered the building, the sheriff walked over to them and turned on the news. What they saw made Richert suddenly become very angry. The headline read, _Suspect Wanted for Questioning in a Small Town Market Stick-up_. Above the headline was a picture of Jason Highmore, one of their former partners; now dead.

"I thought that Highmore was on our side, Sir," the sheriff asked? "Why would he try to rob a market?"

"He was trying to get some quick money in order to escape the city," Greer replied. "We caught him ratting us out to some cops or some other agency. We got him and killed him, but apparently not in time before he got himself into the news. The cops and now whoever Annie Walker works for will be looking for him. If they find him dead, they will have enough evidence to pin his death to Don and eventually the rest of us. We need to find out who this cop works for, shut her and her boyfriend up for good, and then find a way to close the case they are building against us for good."

The sheriff responded, "We could all just get out of the country. You have friends who will help us."

Richert shook his head and said, "No, I have worked too hard to build up what I have. I will not allow a snitch and a cop to destroy everything. Once I know who Walker works for, my friends and I will take care of the rest."

"Do you mean that you are going to kill a bunch of cops," the sheriff asked again? "If you do that, then you will be wanted forever, and so will I. I didn't sign on for this. If you do this, I am finished."

"Don't worry so much, Paul," Greer answered. "We hire the best men to work for us. They are good at what they do. If you try to run or tell anyone, we have a bullet with your name on it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul replied.

Richert and Greer left the sheriff's office and headed back to the cabin to finish what they began with Walker and the blind guy. They knew that they were in even more of a hurry than they were before. Luckily, Richert's home, which they knew was probably overrun with cops by now, had no incriminating evidence that linked them to any crime they had committed. Annie Walker was the key to everything.

Meanwhile…

The woman and the fat guy were still in another room of the cabin, while Annie finally finished loosening her ropes. Once she got up from her chair, she quickly, but quietly walked over to Auggie and began to untie his knots as well. However, as she did so, the woman walked in and shouted out for help from her partner.

"Roy, the cop is trying to escape," she shouted! "Get off your lazy butt and help me!"

Annie stopped what she was doing and got into a hand to hand fight with one of her kidnappers. Roy was about to jump in and grab Annie, until Auggie suddenly stood and used his arm to strike the guy right in the neck, causing him to stagger. Auggie used the training that he once taught to Annie a long time ago and managed to knock the big guy out after a few minutes.

Annie used the same training and easily managed to take out her attacker, as she looked over at Auggie and asked, "How on earth did you manage to do that. He's like ten times bigger than you and…"

Auggie interrupted, "And not blind? I heard his heavy footsteps as he ran toward us. I knew exactly where he was and I used his shock as I made the first attack to take him out. It's not how I prefer to fight, but it works. Are you all right?"

"I am thanks to you," Annie replied. "I wouldn't have been if Roy there had managed to help his partner out. Thank you, Auggie. You are totally awesome!"

"I do what I can," he responded. "Do either of them have any id?"

Annie bent down to search the woman's pockets and as she lifted up her jacket to do so, she saw a police badge hooked to the outside of her left side pocket. Annie reached in to pull out her wallet and read the id.

Annie said, "Her name is Lauren Racine; she's a cop. Why would a cop help a scumbag like Don Richert?"

Auggie answered, "Why else would a cop help out a criminal? Because Richert paid her good money to. We know that Richert is selling secrets and information about our country to some high bidder in Europe. In order to get the information and to keep everything he's done off all law enforcements radars. Who knows how many more cops or even agents he has on his payroll?"

"This is much worse than we originally thought," Annie said. "If it wasn't for Highmore giving us the information that he did, we would still be completely in the dark like every other agency out there. We need to get out of here. Richert and Greer could be back at any time."

Just as Annie said so, a car pulled up out front. Annie ran over to the window, watched as they got out of the car, and then ran back to Auggie. She quickly pulled him toward the back of the cabin and out the back door.

"We have to get out of here, Auggie," she said quickly. "I am going to get us out of here, I promise. I need you to trust me."

Auggie replied, "I've always trusted you, Annie."


	10. Chapter 10

The Hero Inside

Chapter Ten

At CIA Headquarters…

Joan was up in her office waiting to hear from anyone on her team about the whereabouts of her agent, Annie. She was getting impatient and worried. She cared about both Annie and Auggie. They were the best at what they did. They were her friends. However, she knew that they were at least together. They would make it out of trouble as long as they remained that way.

Joan's husband, Arthur, walked into her office a few minutes later and asked, "Joan, how are things going? Is there any word on either Annie or August?"

She replied, "He prefers to be called Auggie, Arthur. And the answer is no. I haven't. It has been almost twenty-four hours now and we are no closer to finding them. Richert has to have them in some kind of warehouse or abandoned building. They could be here in the city, or they could be in another one by now."

"Ma'am, we found Jason Highmore just a few minutes ago," one of her agents interrupted as he walked into her office. "He's dead. He's been dead for several hours. My guess is that he was killed shortly after he helped his boss' goons kidnap Auggie."

"Did we find the body or did the cops out looking for him," she asked?

The agent answered, "According to the news, a couple of cops found the guy. There was a witness to a body drop early this morning down by the river. Whoever that was, saw two guys throw a body in the river and then went to the cops. We hacked into the police database to get this information from them."

Arthur kissed his wife on the cheek and left her office as Joan said, "Very good. We need to see Highmore's personal affects right away. Have an agent go undercover to get into the station and see if there is anything that will tell us where Auggie and Annie are right now."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied.

"Wait a minute," Joan shouted suddenly as she looked at a message she just received on her cell phone. "Forget going to the cops. I just received a message from Annie. She said she's with Auggie and that they are running through the woods hours away from DC. I want a trace put on the phone she is calling from and helicopters in the air, searching all the woods within five hours from here; there aren't too many that are within that radius. Everyone split up. Call in every half hour for an update. Right now, people; move!"

At the cabin…

Don Richert and his partner, Evan Greer got out of the car and walked back into the cabin, anxious to get this mess over with that was caused by Highmore. They weren't prepared to walk in and see both of their men trying to get up off the floor of the cabin, after being knocked unconscious.

Richert shouted, "What on earth happened and where are they? How could the two of you let her and a blind guy escape? Get up and go after them, now! Evan, I need you to go with them and make sure that they don't screw up again. Kill the boyfriend; I don't care, but try to bring back Annie alive. If you can't, don't worry, but I want to know who she is working for. We need to clean this mess up now."

"No problem, Don," Greer responded. "We will get what we need."

Meanwhile…

Right before Annie grabbed Auggie and bolted out the back door of the cabin, she bent down and picked up the female cop's cell phone from her pocket. As she quickly led Auggie through the woods, she typed up a brief message to Joan; not giving any important information, but enough that her boss would understand so that she would send out men to find them.

Auggie did his best to keep up, but he couldn't help stumbling a few times. It was one thing to walk around, but at least when he did that he had a cane or his laser to guide him around the office. There were trees and hazards everywhere that despite how hard Annie tried to keep him clear of, they couldn't avoid them all.

They had been running for over an hour and after stumbling once again, Annie finally led Auggie over to a tree and helped him to sit down. As she did, she noticed that she had cut her arm from running into a tree branch. It wasn't too deep, but blood was spilling out more than what she wanted. She knew that she needed to put a makeshift bandage over it. She sat next to Auggie and began to rip off the sleeve of her shirt she was wearing.

As she did so, Auggie asked, "You cut your arm, didn't you? Is it bad?"

Annie replied, "No, it isn't deep at all. There's just more blood coming out of it than I would have expected it to. I'm going to wrap the sleeve of my shirt around it. My shirt's ruined now anyway. I'm good. What about you?"

"Aside from being out of breath and slowing you down, I'm good too," he answered.

"Listen to me, Auggie," Annie said. "I am running into my share of branches and stumbling myself. My arm is proof of that. Stop worrying so much. Are you ready to go? We can't rest anymore. They are going to find us if we don't get going."

Auggie got up this time on his own and bent down to where Annie sat and helped her up. Together they ran for just under a mile, until they stopped to catch their breath. As they did so, they began to hear a motor sound in the sky. They realized that it was the sound of helicopters. Annie grabbed Auggie and pulled them toward a clearing. They knew that in order for their team to find them, they needed to get into the open, despite the risk of being discovered by Richert and his men.


	11. Chapter 11

The Hero Inside

Chapter Eleven

The helicopters were flying around the entire length of the woods and would do so until they were told to stop. If Joan understood Annie's message, as Annie believed that she did, then the agents would not give up on them. Not unless they were told that they were dead, and even then, they wouldn't stop searching until they found their bodies.

That was how Joan was and what she instilled upon any agent who ever worked for her. Joan was always stern and sometimes cold, but she took care of her agents. Never once did those who work for her believe that she didn't care about their wellbeing.

Annie and Auggie kept running, looking for where they would be spotted from the helicopters circling above them. The longer they ran, the more difficult it was to keep up the pace. After running for what seemed like forever, Auggie stopped and put his head in his hands. Annie helped him walk a bit further until they found a place that was clear enough and helped him to sit down.

Auggie was the first to speak as he asked, "So, how's your arm? It's not getting infected is it?"

Annie was amazed that his first concern was for her. She could tell that he was obviously hurting, but he took the time to question her about a scratch on her arm, caused by a tree branch. She couldn't help but smile. That was how Auggie always was.

She finally responded, "No, honestly I'm fine. It's just a scratch. How about you? How are you feeling, honestly?"

"My head is beginning to hurt again," he answered. "They knocked me out last night with the butt of a gun, I think. When I came to, my head was throbbing. After awhile the throbbing softened to a dull ache, but all this running is making it worse. I don't think that I can run anymore, but you need to keep going. They will catch up soon and you need to get to a clearing if our agents are going to have any hope of finding you."

"We are in a clearing now and as I told you before, Auggie, I'm not leaving you," Annie replied. "We are getting out of this together."

Auggie sighed and asked, "What about your family; your sister, brother-in-law, and your two nieces. What about your parents? They will miss you if something happens to you and they won't ever know the truth about what happened. Is that what you really want?"

Annie looked at him and responded, "No, but I don't have a choice. What about you? You have a family too; at least four brothers that I know of. We're getting out of here. I'm not going to let scum like that kill either one of us."

"You are certainly stubborn, Annie Walker," Auggie replied. "I think that that is part of what I love about you. You never quit."

Once again, Annie looked into his eyes and smiled. He always knew the right things to say. Why did it take so long for her to realize how wonderful he really was? She loved Ben once, but she was in love with Auggie.

Annie leaned closer to him and was about to kiss him, but was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter flying overhead. If only they had some kind of flare or a way to signal to them, but they didn't. So, Annie patted Auggie on the shoulder and ran out into the open in hopes that they would see her all right.

Suddenly, shots came from the direction in which they had originally come and Annie ran back over to Auggie, who had ducked down as low as possible. Together, they hid behind the tree by which they were sitting by.

Annie couldn't tell at first, but after a few minutes, she counted two different guns being fired. She wasn't sure whether Richert, Greer, and his other hired guns were all out there looking for them, but she had to act as if they all were. If that was the case, where were the other two, she wondered?

"Auggie, we need to get out of here," she shouted above the noise. "The helicopter has to know we are here by now, which means we are going to get help quickly, but this tree won't protect us any longer. They are getting closer and they know we have no weapons. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Let's go!"

The two of them ran further into the woods, with at least two people shooting toward them from behind. They were a good distance ahead, but it wouldn't stay that way much longer. Annie had to come up with something to unarm them. It was then that Auggie tripped and Annie bent down to help him up.

As soon as they were back on their feet, Auggie suddenly turned his head to the sound of a branch snapping a few feet from them, followed by the sound of a gun being prepared to fire. Without even thinking about it, he quickly shoved Annie out of the way just as the gun went off. She fell to ground as Auggie fell on top of her. When he didn't get up, Annie gently lifted him off of her, turned him over, and lay him back down in her lap.

She realized that he was shot and when she looked over his body to find out where, she saw that he had been hit in the abdomen. She did all she could to try to arouse him, but she couldn't. He was still alive, but his pulse was weak. It was then that Annie prayed for the first time in her life that the other agents would get to them in time to save his life.

"Oh, God Auggie," Annie cried! "Stay with me, please. I need you to stay with me. You're going to be all right."

Annie looked around for where that shot had come from and that was when she saw Evan Greer walking out from behind the trees with a gun pointed straight at her head. He was smiling as he used his free hand to put his cell phone up to his ear.

After a few seconds he said, "Don, I got the blind guy. He's as good as dead. I'm bringing the woman back to the cabin. We will all be there shortly."


	12. Chapter 12

The Hero Inside

Chapter Twelve

Annie kept holding Auggie in one arm, while using her other hand to apply pressure to the wound. He was losing blood, fast. She was losing him and the man who shot him was smiling. She glared up at Greer as he put his phone back in his pocket and looked down at her. The dirty cop, Racine, and her partner, the fat man, walked over to them; guns ready should Annie give them more trouble.

Greer was the first to speak as he said, "Miss. Walker, I must say that I am impressed that you were able to escape and get this far dragging your blind boyfriend along. Most people care only about themselves. You could have gotten away if you had left him behind."

Annie kept looking at Auggie with tears in her eyes as she responded, "That's the difference between you and me. I care about what happens to my friends. Eventually, Richert will leave you behind one day in order to save himself; just as you would do to him."

"Unfortunately for you, that day is not today," Evan replied. "We need to go now, before your friends in the helicopters find you."

"I believe that you have something that belongs to me," Racine said as she bent down to take her phone which Annie had stolen from her.

She and her partner pulled Annie to her feet causing Auggie to fall all the way to the ground. As Greer pulled Annie in front of him with his gun pointed at her back and started to lead her away, the other two followed behind them, while leaving Auggie alone. Annie knew that if she didn't do something, Auggie would die very quickly, but there was no way of fighting off three armed men.

Suddenly, there was a shot fired from behind them that hit the tree by which they stood. Annie, Greer, Racine, and her partner all looked back and saw a group of heavily armed men running toward them.

One of them shouted, "Everyone, put your weapons down and raise your hands or we will open fire. Do it now!"

Racine and the fat guy quickly ducked for cover and began to shoot back at the agents as they continued to run toward them. Each of them dodged the bullets being fired at them, using the trees for cover. Greer knew that he was outnumbered and pulled Annie once again if front of him as he began to fire too, while moving backwards.

However, Annie used this distraction to knock the gun from his hand. She elbowed him in the stomach and swung around, using her knee to hit him in his crotch. She finally disarmed him by using her arm to spin him around and wrapped it around his neck. She then pushed him to the ground and held him in place; pointing his gun in his face

Annie grabbed him by the throat and said, "That blind guy, as you keep calling him, was the one who taught me that move. I want nothing more than to kill you, but I will leave you for my friends. The CIA has their own ways of dealing with scumbags like you."

Annie stood up and shot the fat thug in the back of his shoulder, which was enough of a distraction for the other agents to take care of him and Racine. They managed to take them both down alive as they ran up to them and cuffed their arms behind their backs. One of the men quickly called for a medical copter to come and then made a call to Langley, informing Joan of the situation.

"I need some help, please!" Annie cried as she ran back to Auggie, who was now barely conscious.

"We'll get him to the hospital right away, Miss. Walker," one of the agents replied as he ran over to her and Auggie with a medical kit in his arms and began to tend to the bullet wound in Auggie's abdomen as best as he could.

Annie took a hold of Auggie's hand and put her other hand on his face as she quietly whispered to him saying, "You can't die on me, Auggie. You're too young and you're also a hero. The CIA doesn't acknowledge dead heroes very well. You need to be alive for that. You wouldn't want to miss out on the big party that is going to be in your honor, do you?"

Even though he was in a lot of pain, Auggie laughed as he turned his head toward the sound of Annie's voice and answered, "No, I wouldn't want to miss that. Seeing the look on everyone's jealous faces who work for Arthur Campbell would be priceless."

He closed his eyes and arched his back in pain as the agent bandaging his wound placed more pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding and Annie replied, "Don't try to talk. Just take it easy and allow Agent Jenkins patch you up until we get you to the hospital."

Five of the other agents who came to their rescue, guided the prisoners back to the helicopter, which they had landed nearby, while the rest of them stayed behind and waited for the medical copter to come for Auggie and Annie. They tried to get Annie to move back, but she refused to leave Auggie's side.

The agent who made the call to Joan handed the phone over to Annie, who took it reluctantly. She didn't want to talk to Joan or anyone else right now, but knew that she needed to take the call.

Annie spoke first saying, "Joan, I'm all right, but Auggie; he isn't. I tried to get him out of danger, but he ended up saving me. He took a bullet that was meant for me."

Joan sighed and slowly answered, "Annie, this is not your fault. I know how you must be feeling right now, but I need you to calm down and listen to me. I need you to lead a few of the agents to find Don Richert. You did a good job with capturing Evan Greer and the others working for the man, but we want Richert. Auggie will be taken care of."

"No offense, Joan, but I can't leave him alone," Annie replied. "I won't leave him alone. I owe him. Right now, Richert is waiting for Greer to bring me back to a cabin that is a few miles north of where we are now. It won't be hard for the agents to find."

"Do you think that you could convince Greer to flip on his boss for perhaps some leniency in his sentence," Joan asked? "Perhaps if we pull the death penalty off the table, he may be willing to negotiate and lead our agents to Richert himself. That way, you can stay with Auggie."

"I shouldn't have a problem with that," Annie responded.


	13. Chapter 13

The Hero Inside

Chapter Thirteen

Annie gently lifted Auggie once again off of her lap and lay him down flat on the ground. She had one of the agents pull off their jacket so that she could place it under his head. She asked the agent tending to his wound to take care of him until she got back.

Annie leaned down and kissed Auggie on his forehead and whispered, "I'll be right back, I promise. I have to do a favor for Joan. Just hang on for me. You are going to be fine."

Auggie just nodded as Annie walked away and headed through the woods and into the clearing where the helicopter was getting ready to transport Greer and the other two prisoners to the CIA headquarters. Racine and the big guy just stared at the ground with scowls on their faces. However, Greer just looked at Annie as she came over and stood in front of him.

He spoke first as he asked, "So, how is the boyfriend doing? Is he going to make it?"

Annie replied, "He's going to be fine. I'm here to make you a deal. You deserve a needle in your arm for the crimes that you've committed, but my boss wants yours really bad and so do I. She told me to tell you that we are willing to take the death penalty off the table if you lead a few agents to Richert and give us all the information about the secrets you and him have been selling to your buyers in Europe. What do you say?"

"I guess that you were right about me selling out a good friend to save my own life," Evan answered. "We've been together for a long time and have gotten away with a lot. I suppose we got too cocky. It's too bad too. We were just about to make more money than we ever could imagine."

"That is too bad," Annie responded sarcastically. "A few agents will be accompanying you back to the cabin. You will show them how to get there. They'll take care of everything else and once we get to where you'll be spending the rest of your life, my boss will talk to you about your deal. Goodbye Mr. Greer."

Annie looked up into the sky as she heard another helicopter circling above them. As she did, she saw that the medical copter was preparing to land. When it finally did, she ran over to the paramedics as they stepped out and begged them to hurry. They grabbed their supplies and a gurney and followed after Annie through the woods; back to Auggie.

When they arrived, Annie ran over to Auggie and saw that he had once again fallen unconscious and that he wasn't doing well. Annie was about to sit down near him again, but the paramedics pushed her out of the way so that they would be able to work. Suddenly, one of them shouted that he was flat lining. The young agent, who kept pressure on his wound before, was now holding Annie back as she was struggling in his arms. She was now allowing her tears to fall freely down her face.

The paramedics grabbed their defibrillator and used the paddles to try to revive Auggie. After shocking him three times, they were about to give up, but Annie begged them to try it one more time. When they did, it worked and Auggie's heart began to beat again slowly. Annie had never felt so scared, even on the night that she was nearly killed by an assassin during her first mission with the CIA.

Once he was finally stable enough, the paramedics carried Auggie on the stretcher to the helicopter. Annie followed behind them and sat down inside as soon as they made room for her to do so. She sat back and waited patiently for them to finally land at the hospital. Once it did, the paramedics rushed him inside and into the emergency room.

About thirty minutes later, Joan walked into the hospital, followed by Jai and two other agents. Annie expected Joan to ask her to explain to her everything that happened. However, the first thing Joan asked was if she was all right. Annie shook her head no and started to tell Joan about how she had gotten to where Richert had taken Auggie and why he was even involved in the first place.

"None of this was Auggie's fault, Joan," Annie began. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If anyone should be blamed, it's me."

"Annie, I don't blame either of you for anything," Joan replied. "You told me that you had invited Auggie to a party at your sister's. We learned that Richert had been following you around for almost as long as you had been following him, thanks to Jason Highmore. He told Richert and Greer everything. They must have figured that you and Auggie were dating and when they followed you back to his place, they decided to kidnap him in hopes of getting you to talk."

Annie nodded and continued, saying, "I did as you asked me to do when you ordered me to continue with my case. I went back to the park and waited for Richert to come out or go anywhere. I had no idea at that point that Richert was the one who kidnapped Auggie. Not until Greer came up from behind me and explained that if I wanted to see him again, I needed to go with him and leave my phone behind. I did as he asked. They brought me to a cabin in the woods where they were holding Auggie as well and left us alone to take care of some business. We knocked their guard dogs out and took one of their phones in order to send you the message. Then, we escaped and ran through the woods. Eventually, they found us. I was too busy concentrating on not being shot by Richert's two thugs, that I didn't hear Greer sneak up behind us. Auggie did and pushed me out of the way of a bullet that was meant for me. He was shot in the abdomen. I tried to protect him and in the end, he protected me. I'm so sorry."

Joan put a hand on Annie's shoulder and responded, "Auggie is much stronger than any of us ever give him credit for. He will pull through. In the meantime, go and get changed and washed up. Take some time to relax. I will have someone call you when we learn something."

Annie shook her head to comply and headed toward the restroom. She washed her hands and when she was finished, she pulled out her new cell phone, which was just given to her by Jai, and dialed her sister's number. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain Auggie getting shot, but she needed someone to talk to and someone who could give her the comfort that she needed as she waited to hear if the man she loved was going to survive.


	14. Chapter 14

The Hero Inside

Chapter Fourteen

Late in the evening…

Danielle had just finished putting her daughters to sleep, when her phone rang. Her husband was still at work and she was expecting him home anytime. As far as she knew, Annie was still out of town on her business meeting. So, she expected that a phone call at this time of night must be her.

As Danielle answered the phone, her assumption of it being Annie was right, except her sister sounded terrible. Athens was one of the most beautiful cities in the world, or so she had been told by Annie. Danielle wondered what made her sister so upset that she wasn't enjoying herself.

As she got off the phone, her husband walked in and Danielle ran over to him and told him that she needed to run to the hospital. She only explained that Annie needed her and that she would be home when she could. First, Danielle ran upstairs to grab her sister a change of clothes and then she ran out the door and drove to the hospital as quickly as she could.

As soon as Danielle saw her sister, she realized that Annie did a good job holding in the pain she was now obviously feeling. Annie looked much worse in person. However, she still had yet to hear the reason for her being here and looking like she did. There was blood all over the front of her blouse, as well as on her pants.

Danielle pulled her sister into her arms as she suddenly broke down and finally asked, "Annie, what happened? Are you all right?"

Without lying, Annie replied, "No, it's Auggie. He was shot. I wanted him to know how sorry I was for treating him so badly the other night, but before I got the chance to tell him, a bullet hit him. I'm so scared, Danielle. What if he doesn't make it? He lost so much blood. The wound looked so bad."

Danielle said, "I hardly know him, but I can see that he is someone special. You two are supposed to be together, which means that he cannot die, now. You'll see. Do you have any idea what happened or who did this?"

"Auggie heard the click of the gun hammer before I did," Annie answered. "He pushed me out of the way as the bullet hit him. I don't know if that means that the bullet was meant for me or not, but he saved my life. I've already talked to someone about what happened. They will let me know as soon as they find out what happened."

"Have the doctors told you anything about his condition," Annie's sister asked? "How long has it been since the incident?"

"It's been just over three hours now," Annie replied. "It is taking them forever."

Danielle handed Annie the change of clothes she brought for her and responded, "Well, while you are waiting to hear from them, go and get cleaned up. I'll let you know if a doctor comes out."

As Annie did so, it was then that she realized that Joan and Jai had both left the hospital, probably to go back to the office to make sure that Richert's capture was run smoothly. Annie figured that they knew she didn't plan on leaving him. Annie didn't usually disobey orders, but she figured that the orders for her to go home and get some rest were a way of showing their concern.

Annie's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Danielle walked in and said, "There is a doctor wanting to speak with you about Auggie. He called you Mrs. Anderson?"

Annie quickly remembered that she lied about being Auggie's wife in order to learn of his condition when the doctors came out and responded, "I had to tell the doctors that we were married in order to get any information from them. They won't tell anyone except for family, or if we were cops."

"Doctor, how is he," Annie asked as she and her sister walked out of the bathroom and over to the doctor waiting for them?

"I am afraid that his condition is critical, as I am sure that you imagined, and will be for the next seventy-two hours," the doctor answered. "A bullet wound to the abdomen is very serious. Honestly, I am surprised he lasted this long after what the paramedics told me. He has lost a lot of blood. We have given him a blood transfusion in order to help to restore what he lost, but he will need another one in awhile. As for the wound itself, it hasn't caused much damage to any vital organs, but there is an infection that is spreading. We moved him into ICU. We will keep our eyes on him and do all we can to help him. All in all, I'd say that your husband is very lucky. I am optimistic. Hopefully, you'll be able to feel the same."

As the doctor finished telling Annie and her sister of Auggie's condition, Annie just continued to stare at the man in front of her. Auggie was critical and yet the doctor seemed to think that he was going to pull through. Annie could only pray that it was true.

Danielle spoke up asking, "Doctor, will it be all right if my sister and I went to his room to see him?"

The doctor nodded, "Yes, Ma'am. If you ladies would like to follow me, I'll bring you to him."

Once they got to the room, Annie was the first to walk in. As she saw Auggie for the first time since the paramedics took him away, she collapsed in the chair next to his bed and pulled his hand into hers. He was hooked up to numerous machines and the noises coming from them were the only indications that showed he was alive. He looked so lifeless.

The doctor told Annie's sister that they were welcome to stay for as long as they wanted to and then left them alone. Danielle turned back to look at her sister and the man who had finally helped her to heal from the loss of her previous love, the man who had also saved her sister's life. She stayed in the room, but stood in the back, not wanting to disturb Annie as she began to talk to him quietly.

She said, "Auggie, I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you need to come back to me, to us. We need you more than you know. I am so sorry about the things I said to you the other night. I didn't mean any of it. I have just been so afraid to open myself up to someone else ever since Ben. When he left, it hurt so much, but I finally let him go. I buried everything I had of him in my backyard, like I buried everything else I have ever needed to let go of. I never thought that I could love someone else like that again. I was wrong. I am in love with you. I am sorry that I couldn't tell you sooner. Please, don't leave me now."

Danielle cried freely as she listened to her sister. A few minutes later, she saw something that put a smile on her face again. Auggie's hand being held by Annie's closed around hers. It was then that she knew that he was going to be all right, and so was her sister.


	15. Chapter 15

The Hero Inside

Chapter Fifteen

Back at the cabin in the woods…

Don Richert sat in one of the chairs waiting for Evan and his two other associates, Racine and Davis, to get back with Annie Walker. He couldn't believe that he underestimated the woman's abilities. She was small and didn't look like much of a fighter, but the beating she had given his guys proved otherwise. She couldn't be just an FBI agent or a cop. They fought with guns, not like she appeared to do.

Then, there was the blind guy. According to Davis, the guy packed a pretty mean punch himself. Even though Davis being fat slowed him down, he was still tough to knock out and the blind man did it. This caused Richert to realize that he also underestimated him. Apparently, he wasn't just Annie Walker's blind boyfriend after all. He just didn't know what.

That was going to change as soon as she was brought back here, or so Richert believed. It was then that suddenly the front door of the cabin was kicked open and a small group of men and women entered the room, pointing their guns straight at Richert's head.

They shouted at Richert to put his hands above his head and drop down to the floor on his stomach. He did as he was asked. Richert didn't want to go to prison, but he wasn't suicidal either. He knew that these men and women would not hesitate to take him out. From the fact that they weren't wearing bulletproof vests as FBI agents would be, but wearing just their everyday streets clothes, Richert realized that they must be working for the CIA and that they had already taken down Evan, Racine, and Davis.

Richert was the first to speak asking, "So, you must be the CIA, am I right? Where are my men?"

One of the agents answered, "All three of them are in our custody now, Mr. Richert. So far, we have you on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, and murder, but thanks to Mr. Greer, we will soon have you on a few more charges as well. You'll end up with a needle in your arm for these alone, but you better pray that the agent you had your pal shoot survives. If not, God help you when our boss and a close friend of his get a hold of you. You may not make it to the day of your execution."

"You guys are good," Don replied. "I am impressed that you found us all the way out here and that two of your agents managed to escape, despite one of them being blind. How does that work by the way? He can't do field work, but my guess is that he probably used to, am I right? What are the chances that he survives? Greer said he was soon to be a dead man. I hope he's right."

"We got to him in time," another agent responded. "He's going to be fine. He's much tougher than most people think he is."

As the agents walked Don Richert outside to the helicopter that would transfer him to their headquarters, he spotted Evan, Racine, and Davis sitting inside the bird with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

Don frowned at his team and then looked at a female agent as she walked up beside him and said, "We found you without difficulty thanks to your so called pal here, Evan Greer. He gave you up without hesitation when it came down to your life or his own. I guess it's hard to find good help these days, isn't it?"

Don looked at Evan and replied, "Isn't it though. I'm sure that anyone would stab their friends in the back sooner or later if they wanted something bad enough."

Greer spoke up saying, "You had to know this would end someday. I certainly did and I was not about to go down alone. It was fun, but not worth dying for. Good luck with that."

"Don't think that you are going to get off so easy," Don responded. "You of all people should remember that I have friends in high places. You'll be as good as dead soon enough."

Back at Langley…

Joan and Jai were in the tech ops room waiting to hear from their agents who were sent to arrest Don Richert. Joan couldn't wait to come face to face with the man who had given the CIA so much trouble since his name first crossed her desk. It was thanks to Annie and Auggie that he was finally being brought down.

Around five in the evening, the leading member of the team called in and informed them that Richert was found, arrested, and being transported straight to them, as well as Greer, Racine, and Davis. Joan and Jai were going to work together to interrogate each of them in hopes of finding the rest of the men on their payroll.

Joan felt some of the weight from her shoulders lighten. However, most of her stress came from worrying about Auggie. She had yet to learn if he was going to make it or not. Even if he did, was he going to come out of this incident in one piece, she wondered?

The last time that he was in the hospital, he was wounded and blinded from an explosion in Iraq. On top of that, he ended up losing his fiancé. It took him a long time to come back from and all he had was her who showed the tiniest bit of concern for him. This time, he had Annie and Joan's instincts told her that there was more than just a strong friendship between her and him. Thankfully, Auggie was in good hands.

Suddenly, her phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. When she reached down and picked it up, she heard Annie on the other line. After waiting for several hours, Annie had informed her of his condition. His condition was critical, yet the doctor seemed optimistic.

Thankful she was finally alone in her office, Joan sat down in her chair and felt the rest of the weight on her shoulders disappear. Then, she reached out for the phone once again to call her husband and invite him to a late dinner once she was finished with the interrogations and visiting Auggie and Annie in the hospital. She could not wait for the day to finally be over with.


	16. Chapter 16

The Hero Inside

Chapter Sixteen

Six weeks later…

Danielle was busy in her kitchen, rushing to finish getting the rest of the food together for the dinner she was having tonight. Her two girls suddenly came running in fighting over who was going to sit next to their Aunt Annie. Her husband came in after them to try to get them to settle down, but the girls kept at it.

Danielle finally stopped what she was doing and shouted, "Chloe and Olivia, please! Neither one of you are going to sit next to your aunt. You are sitting between me and your father. I want you on your best behavior tonight, which means this petty little fight you're having needs to stop right now."

Chloe replied, "We're sorry, Mom."

Olivia added, "Yes, Mommy. We're sorry."

The two of them ran back out as Danielle's husband leaned over to give her a kiss and she asked, "Honey, can you please go and make sure that they hurry and finish getting dressed. People are going to start arriving any minute. This party is very important."

"Of course," he answered. "Don't worry so much. Tonight is going to be just fine, you'll see."

"Thank you," she shouted after him as he left the room to help their daughters.

Just as she finished taking the roast out of the crock pot and on the tray in which she was going to serve it from, the doorbell rang. Danielle quickly took off the apron which she was wearing, ran out to open the door, and saw that their first guests had arrived. She let them in and asked them to take a seat in the living room while they waited for the rest of the guests to arrive.

After a half hour went by, her living room was full of people and her daughters had already run off with a few of the other kids who had come along with their parents too. Finally, Annie walked in with Auggie; his arms around hers. He had just gotten out of the hospital a few days ago and it took time for him to get back to feeling normal, but with Annie's help, he was recuperating just fine.

As soon as Annie led him into the living room, all of the guests stood and clapped their hands together. Auggie took a step backwards, but remained in the room as a courtesy to Annie and her sister.

Annie reached out to pull Danielle close and whispered quietly enough so that only she and Auggie could hear as she asked, "Danielle, what have you done? I mean, we expected you to throw a party which is why we dressed up, but…"

Auggie interrupted, "It's all right, Annie. Danielle, thank you for this; it just surprised me. Why did everyone clap though?"

"Because you saved my sister's life, Auggie," Danielle answered. "You have no idea how grateful I am to you. I am also grateful that she is finally happy. I have to admit, I didn't think that she would ever let herself be again. You're a miracle, Auggie, and I wanted to throw this party for the two of you as a way to show you my gratitude."

"Anyone would have saved her life if they could have," Auggie responded. "I just happened to be the one who was there. I am no hero. I just love her very much. Thank you for the party, Danielle. It is very generous, but if you'll excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back."

Auggie used his cane to guide him out of the room and Annie just watched him with sadness in her eyes. Danielle took a hold of her arm and guided her into the kitchen. Then, she wrapped her arms around Annie, giving her a hug, and looked at her in the eyes.

She said, "Annie, I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to show my appreciation and show how happy I am that you two are finally dating."

Annie replied, "The party is wonderful, Danielle. The truth is we expected you to throw us a party as soon as you invited us to come for dinner. We both love it. It's just that you told everyone that he saved my life. Auggie has a hard time with being called a hero. He lost his sight in an accident over in Iraq. The rest of his team was killed. After a few weeks out of the hospital, his fiancé left him because she didn't see him the same way she did before; just because he was now blind. It took him a long time to overcome wondering why he was the only one who survived and without sight. Please don't make a big deal about him saving my life."

"I am going to kick everyone out and the four of us can have dinner alone," Danielle quickly responded. "It will be fun!"

"That isn't necessary, Danielle," Auggie said as he reached out for Annie, who quickly went over to him and put her arms through his. "Dinner with a bunch of friends' sounds like a lot more fun and the food smells delicious. However, I would like to ask Annie a question before we all go back in there, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," she replied.

Auggie pulled Annie in front of him, pulled out a box from his jacket's inside pocket, and opened it up in front of her. Inside was a ring and both Annie and Danielle gasped at the same time. Annie looked up into Auggie's eyes as she began to cry very quietly.

He smiled as he started to talk saying, "Annie, you and I have been through a lot in the past year and the truth is I have loved you for almost just as long. I may not be able to see you, but I know that you're beautiful from everything that you are. If you are willing to spend the rest of your life with a blind hero, no matter how long that will be, I would love it if you would marry me."

Danielle was crying as quietly as Annie was. She had to use her hands to from blurting out the joy she was feeling. Annie just starred at Auggie at first and in answer to his proposal, she stood up on her tip toes and kissed him on his lips quite passionately.

"You see in a different way than everyone else," Annie answered as she let go. "This is why I am in love with you. My answer is yes."

Auggie leaned down and kissed her again as Danielle began to cry openly now. Her husband was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and had overheard everything. He walked over to Danielle, who wrapped her arms around his. When Annie and Auggie finished their kiss, Danielle ran over to them and gave them an even bigger hug.

"Annie, I am so happy for you," she said. "You have to let me help you plan the wedding. It will be absolutely beautiful. Auggie, thank you so much for being you. Now, we definitely have something to celebrate. Let's go back to our party!"

Annie just laughed as she watched her sister drag her husband away and into the living room and spoke saying, "You know that she is never going to shut up about the wedding now, don't you? I am not sure if proposing to me was such a good idea after all. You'll be stuck with my crazy family forever. We are a packaged deal. Are you sure that that is what you really want?"

Auggie kissed her on her forehead and replied, "Definitely. Just wait until you meet my family. Believe me, I know crazy."

"What do you think Joan will say," Annie asked? "Do you think that we'll become the new Romeo and Juliet of the CIA?"

"Maybe," he answered. "Except that our story won't end in tragedy."

The End


	17. Thank You

Thank you to all those who have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I am honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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